NHK’s Watch 9 reported Germany’s response to the Wuhan virus crisis as if it were superior to Japan’s. Yet according to the WHO’s May 5 report, Germany had 6,831 deaths compared with Japan’s 521, and Germany’s deaths per million people were about 20 times higher than Japan’s. Even in the increase in deaths over the previous week, Germany’s figure was more than nine times Japan’s after adjusting for population. This essay criticizes NHK’s impression manipulation in praising Germany while failing to present the facts.

May 8, 2020

The people who control NHK’s news department, last night on Watch 9, openly reported, unbelievably, as if Germany were superior to Japan.

The people who control NHK’s news department, last night on Watch 9, openly reported, unbelievably, as if Germany were superior to Japan.
However, only discerning viewers would have understood that they did so openly.
Most viewers must have been imprinted, just as they intended, with the impression that Germany is doing well, and that the Abe administration is inferior by comparison.
In other words, their posture of praising Germany is the same as the posture China and South Korea, especially South Korea, have taken when conducting anti-Japanese propaganda, saying:
“Learn from Germany.”
The people who control NHK’s news department are completely under the operations of South Korea and China.
No, it would be more accurate to say that, from the beginning, they are sympathizers or cells of those countries.

The following is from Yahoo News.
The increase in deaths in Germany is more than nine times that of Japan.
It has fallen by half from the peak.

Among the major European countries, Germany has kept the number of novel coronavirus infections and deaths at the lowest level.
However, compared with Japan, it is still at a considerably high level.

According to the WHO’s latest report, dated May 5, Germany had 163,860 infections and 6,831 deaths.
Japan, by contrast, had 15,231 infections and 521 deaths.

Since the testing systems and numbers of tests in the two countries differ greatly, comparing the number of infections may not have much meaning.
However, when deaths per one million people are compared, Germany has 82.1, about 20 times Japan’s 4.1.

Looking at the number of new deaths over the past week, Germany had 918, while Japan had 145.
Japan’s deaths averaged about 20 per day, while Germany is still seeing more than 100 deaths per day.
When adjusted for population, the increase in deaths in Germany is 9.6 times that of Japan.

Anyone can understand by looking at these numbers.
At the very least, in the Wuhan virus crisis, reporting as if Germany’s response were superior to Japan’s is impression manipulation contrary to the facts.
Nevertheless, NHK’s Watch 9 praised Germany and reported in a way that made the Japanese government appear inferior.
Is this what a public broadcaster should do?
Is this what an organization funded by collecting reception fees from the people should do?

What they are doing is not reporting.
It is propaganda that selects facts, hides numbers, and guides the emotions of viewers.
If they reported head-on the fact that Japan’s numbers of infections and deaths have been kept low compared with Western countries, it would lead to a favorable evaluation of the Abe administration.
Therefore, they avoid it.
Instead, they raise up Germany.
NHK Watch 9 is simply following the method that South Korea and China have long used to demean Japan:
“Learn from Germany.”

Here I see the true nature of NHK’s news department.
What matters to them is neither the lives of the Japanese people, nor facts, nor the responsibility of public broadcasting.
What matters to them is demeaning the Abe administration, making the Japanese state look inferior, and imprinting viewers with a masochistic view of history.
Could there be a more malicious use of the public airwaves?
Could there be reporting that insults the Japanese people more than this?

In this Wuhan virus crisis, Western countries have suffered deaths on an entirely different scale.
Germany is said to have contained the virus better than other European countries.
However, compared with Japan, its number of deaths, deaths per population, and increase in deaths are all far worse than Japan’s.
That is the fact.
NHK Watch 9 does not convey this fact, and instead reports as if Germany were superior to Japan.
That is where the malice of NHK Watch 9 lies.

If it is a news organization, it should first present the numbers.
It should present the death toll.
It should present deaths per population.
Then, it should calmly examine what was good and what was bad.
Yet NHK Watch 9 does not do this.
That is because the conclusion comes first.
The Abe administration is no good.
Japan is no good.
Germany is admirable.
In order to guide viewers toward this conclusion, they disguise their program as a news program.

Such a program should not be left alone as the principal news program of a public broadcaster.
NHK Watch 9 is no longer a news program.
It is an impression-manipulation program by anti-Japanese ideologues using the public airwaves.
The Japanese people must finally wake up to this fact.